More Than Forever (Providence Series Book 2) (5 page)

“Babies?” Dacks sputtered from the wall and burst out laughing. “
Babies
? As in more than one?” You couldn’t help watching in fascination as his normally tanned face went an alarming shade of red with how hard he was laughing; even Jennifer was standing watching it. “Oh Jesus,” he panted wiping his eyes. “Your dad told me that she was special to you, man, but knocking her up at a distance?”

Realizing that no one else in the room was laughing with him, Dacks stopped and looked up at us all. “You have to admit, that’s impressive!” 

“Dacks, you’re a twat. Jennifer, thank you for looking after Isla and my babies and for all of your help setting up Doctor Lo.” Luke gently took my hand and started pulling me towards the door as I grabbed the IV machine at the last second and wheeled it with me.

Thanking Jennifer, I walked behind him out the door leaving Dacks laughing again as he followed behind us.  It was somewhat tense in the elevator on the way to the car, but I just stood looking straight ahead listening to Luke grind his teeth beside me. I couldn't help my audible sigh of relief when the doors opened and I saw the exit to freedom ahead of me.

“Say goodbye to the asshole, Isla.”

Rolling my eyes, I turned and waved at Dacks. “We need to discuss the meeting that we’d missed and reorganize it, so can you have someone drop off all of the paperwork to me at my hotel room…”

“You don’t need it,” Luke interrupted, opening the car door and gently nudging me in before closing the door leaving me wondering what the hell just happened. I saw him and Dacks talk briefly before he was joining me in the car and the driver started to drive away from the curb.

“What do you mean I don’t need it? It’s a crucial meeting Luke, you know that!” 

“It’s been settled and right now the main priority is you and our babies,” he said, leaning his head back onto the back of the seat with his eyes closed.  

“How was it settled? The meeting never happened?” 

“They had reviewed and approved the plans already, Isla; the meeting was a mere formality. Thirty minutes ago, they issued a statement announcing the agreement and plans,” he mumbled just as his jaw went slack and he fell asleep. 

Sitting back to stare out the window watching the scenery go by, I thought over the events of the last twenty-four hours. I was pregnant with twins, Luke was here, we had the most lucrative contract that Montgomery had ever had, and Luke was certain that he’d never had a real relationship with Kendal. Would people think that I got pregnant on purpose, though? I had no doubts that my stepsister would claim that, she’d tried that trick often enough herself, but would the people who mattered think the same? I closed my eyes and leaned my head back on the chair trying not to cry. I was so tired and I didn’t know which way to turn.  

Was Luke telling the truth? Was he only here because of the babies? Could I trust him?
I had so many questions going around on a loop in my head. One thing I knew for certain was that I couldn’t trust him and that I couldn’t drop the walls that I’d built around me when it came to him. 

Wiping away the tears that had rolled down my face, I shifted slightly to get more comfortable and tried to clear my mind. The exhaustion wasn’t helping my emotional state and hormones were most likely playing a big factor, too. Taking a deep breath out, I forced myself to relax and quickly fell asleep. 

Chapter

FOUR

“?”
 

S
hit! Fuck! Damn!
He’d been released overnight while I was watching my red headed beauty. The asshole was going to be pissed off, then again when wasn’t he?
 

Picking up the burner phone, I pressed his number and took a deep breath, waiting as the phone rang in my ear.  

“What?” He barked. The day I got rid of this fucker would be one of the happiest days of my life. 

“Luke Montgomery was released from hospital overnight, Sir.” I held my breath momentarily, waiting for the bullshit to start, until I realized what I was doing and that I was trained to kill so this fucker didn’t scare me. 

“And you’re just telling me now?” Oh, he was pissed. I’d never seen the bastard, but I could hazard a guess at what he looked like. The biggest psychopaths always looked ‘normal’, that was the issue and why so many of them got away with what they did. By normal, I mean someone who blends in with the crowd, someone who people would look over or trust, perhaps even a prominent figure. 

“I was watching another subject.” Not exactly a lie. He just didn’t need to know who or why. “What do you want me to do?” 

There was silence for so long that if I couldn’t hear the noises in the background, I’d think that he’d hung up on me. Then again, he wouldn’t do that, I was his way of doing whatever the fuck this was. He was dependent on me and that thought made me smile. 

“Is the bitch back from her trip overseas yet?”  

“Not that I’m aware of.” 

I knew exactly where this was going to go. I may be a contract killer, but hurting and killing females never stood well with me. This psycho obviously didn’t feel the same way and he was calling the shots here, literally. 

“Leave a surprise for her and get rid of him,” his tone of voice was almost excited. “And make it big!” 

“Yes, Sir.” 

“And don’t fuck up again, or termination and replacement will be in your future!” 

There was a click in my ear as he hung up on me and I switched the burner phone off and put it back in its safe place. I should regret ever taking this fucking contract. I’d worked with depraved psychopaths before, and this fuck was worse than all of them, but then I wouldn’t have found my beauty. She was my reward, my fuel. If that asshole thought he could threaten me or if he even went near Red, then he was done.  

Picking up my keys I left the apartment to drive to the warehouse to get the shit I needed. I knew exactly what to do, and once I was done I was going to reward myself by going to see my Red. 

Chapter

FIVE

L
uke
 

I
woke up as we pulled up
to the Marina Bay Sands hotel and looked over at Isla to find her fast asleep. Her face was still so pale and she had dark bruises under her eyes; she was still the most beautiful angel that I’d ever seen, though. 

As the driver opened my door, I reached across and gathered her up. Isla was a light sleeper, but none of this woke her up, which just proved how exhausted and sick she was. Even though she hardly weighed anything, the extra weight in my arms had my leg and the rest of my body screaming out in pain; but I wasn’t waking her up or putting her down. I’d already let her down, and I was going to prove that I loved her and that I could look after her and our babies.  

Jesus Christ, babies!
I was going to be a dad!
It still hadn't sunk in yet, even though I’d seen the scan pictures and heard their heartbeats. I couldn’t lie and say that I wasn’t scared and still in shock. I also had a feeling of peace that I hadn’t had in years, since we were kids, before I fucked up and lost her. 

Getting into the elevator, I used my elbow to hit the fifty first floor. Shuffling Isla carefully in my arms to get comfortable, I leaned against the side of the elevator watching her until we got to my floor. Tao had booked me into a Strait’s Suite and for security reasons someone would be waiting for me to take mine and Isla’s fingerprints to allow us access around the place. Even though nothing more had happened aside from small incidents on a couple of sites since my and Maya’s accident, the person was still out there doing fuck knows what.  The added security and knowing that Isla and the babies would be safe was paramount and one of the reasons this hotel had been chosen. 

The elevator finally reached my floor and as I got out I saw a middle aged man waiting for me with a machine in his hands. He took in the precious bundle in my arms and gave me a small smile. 

“Sir, I am Lee Chong and I will be assisting you during your stay. I just need to get your fingerprints,” he said as he opened the door to our suite. Seeing a couch in front of the sliding glass doors that led out onto a balcony, I gently laid Isla down and put her IV bag on the back of it to keep it above her body. 

Turning around, I saw Chong watching everything I did with a small smile. “They are very precious to us.” He said, and walked over to the table to place everything down. 

“This we agree on.” I walked over to him ready to get this over and done with so that I could sit down; my body was one big pain. 

“Place your thumb onto this pad please, Mr. Montgomery,” he indicated toward the machine on the table and I reached across to do it. “Now, please place your other thumb onto it.”  

After both thumbs were scanned in, he took me through the areas that had this added security in them and showed me how to use it. Even the card for our room had different security on it. 

“I can come back to do the lady’s prints once she wakes up.” 

“No, you can do it now.” I led him over to Isla and gently picked up both hands and put her thumbs on the scanner; she didn’t even stir once. 

“Thank you, Mr. Montgomery. If I can be of any assistance during your stay, please do not hesitate to contact me.”  

Shaking his hand, I let him out of the room and turned back toward where Isla was sleeping. I knew if I sat down now, I wouldn’t want to get back up again and the nurse would be arriving to change her IV bag in forty minutes. She needed to eat, so I went over to the kitchen and pulled out what I needed to make her a sandwich. 

Just as I was picking up the plate, I heard her call out. “Luke?” 

“I’m here, Angel,” I said as I walked around the corner. 

“Where are we?”  

“The Marina Bay Sands hotel, sweetheart.” I sat on the space she didn’t take up, which was quite a lot seeing as the couch was so wide and she was so tiny. “The doctor’s coming in half an hour to change out your IV. It’s lunch time, so I made you a sandwich. Do you think you could eat it?”